The invention relates generally to carburetors for internal combustion engines, and more particularly to float bowls therefor.
Despite the ubiquitous use of fuel injection, carburetors remain in use in many internal combustion engines, especially racing engines.
High performance carburetors are used in racing engines and high-performance street engines. Such carburetors commonly employ so-called xe2x80x9cmodularxe2x80x9d construction, wherein a main body, typically including two or four venturis, is bolted to a throttle plate or body, which includes butterfly valves operated by a throttle. A metering plate or block containing the jets is bolted to the side of the main body so as to form a back or interior side of the float bowl. The float bowl itself has five sides and bolts to the metering block to form, with the metering plate, an enclosure for liquid fuel. These parts are all shown and described in the publication xe2x80x9cHolley Techxe2x80x9d by Alex and Nancy Walordy, of Westbury, N.Y. (ISBN #0-941167-04-6), herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. The float bowl receives liquid fuel pumped to a fuel inlet of the carburetor, and releases the fuel through a jet which atomizes the fuel into a venturi of the carburetor.
Modular construction is contrasted with unitary construction wherein the aforementioned parts or their equivalents are die cast in one piece. Unitary construction imposes some limitations on the configuration of the carburetor, and does not permit removing and replacing the particular parts and thereby customizing or adjusting the carburetor for particular performance requirements, or effecting quick repair.
Fuel passes through an inlet having a seat for a needle that is coupled to a float. As the fuel level in the float bowl rises, the float also rises, forcing the needle against the seat and ultimately stopping the flow of fuel when a predetermined fuel level is reached.
A problem with the operation of the float bowl is that the fuel xe2x80x9csloshesxe2x80x9d in the float bowl with acceleration or deceleration of the vehicle in which the carburetor is mounted. It is well appreciated in the art that this sloshing may xe2x80x9cstarvexe2x80x9d the jets and prevent fuel from reaching the venturis. However, it is not generally recognized, as it has been by the present inventor, that this sloshing contributes to turbulence, aeration and eddies in the flowing fuel which hampers performance even if the jets are not starved. Further, the present inventor has recognized that turbulence, aeration and eddy currents may be induced in the fuel even if the vehicle in which the carburetor is mounted is not accelerating or decelerating, but may result merely from the flow of the fuel.
Accordingly, there is a need for a carburetor float bowl that minimizes or prevents turbulence, aeration and eddy currents in fuel passing from the carburetor float bowl to the venturis of the carburetor, both as a result of acceleration and deceleration and as a result of fuel flow.
The carburetor float bowl of the present invention solves the aforementioned problems and meets the aforementioned need by providing a carburetor float bowl having a floor and at least one side adjacent and connected to the floor. The float bowl includes a float adapted to be flotationally supported by liquid fuel in the float bowl over a predetermined range of the level of fuel therein. A fuel inlet is adapted to receive fuel under pressure, the fuel inlet comprising a valve including a valve closing element coupled to said float and adapted to substantially stop the flow of fuel when said float rises to a predetermined maximum level of the range. The fuel inlet is adapted to direct fuel along a line toward the floor of the float bowl. The float bowl further includes a xe2x80x9cfuel chutexe2x80x9d having a ramping surface, a portion of which is intersected by said line at a point thereon. The ramping surface is disposed to provide a ramp angle at said point with respect to the floor that is substantially greater than 90 degrees and substantially less than 180 degrees, preferably about 120 degrees.
In one aspect of the invention, the ramping surface has an end terminating substantially at the floor. In another aspect of the invention, the ramping surface terminates in a radiused portion that is substantially tangent to the ramping surface at one end and substantially tangent to said floor at the other end. Preferably, the ramping surface terminates substantially at the floor with the radiused portion.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved carburetor float bowl.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a carburetor float bowl that provides for minimizing or preventing turbulence in fuel passing from the carburetor float bowl to the venturis of the carburetor.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a carburetor float bowl that provides for minimizing or preventing aeration in fuel passing from the carburetor float bowl to the venturis of the carburetor.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a carburetor float bowl that provides for minimizing or preventing eddy currents in fuel passing from the carburetor float bowl to the venturis of the carburetor.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a carburetor float bowl that provides for minimizing or preventing turbulence, aeration or eddy currents in fuel passing from the carburetor float bowl to the venturis of the carburetor while the vehicle in which the carburetor is mounted is accelerating or decelerating.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a carburetor float bowl that provides for minimizing or preventing turbulence, aeration or eddy currents in fuel passing from the carburetor float bowl to the venturis of the carburetor as a result of fuel flow.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the following drawings.